Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Spilled Milk

They say, "don't cry over spilled milk" but yesterday that was hard to remember!

That's about 5 ounces of breastmilk - all over the floor. I was bagging up what I had expressed at work that day and wasn't paying close enough attention to what I was doing and the bag just tipped right over. I just stood there - mad. Amelia was next to me, "helping", and when the mess was made she knew just what to do. She ran to the rag drawer, grabbed one and got busy.

Her efforts made me smile and I really was thankful she knows what to do when a mess is made! Together we picked up the mess and by the end I realized I couldn't be upset. Why? There was nothing I could do about it at that point. It had happened and that was that. Once again, a simple gesture from a small girl helped me relax.

I think the hardest part of it all was just breastmilk being wasted. I have to spend my breaks at work pumping, skip chatting time with co-workers and then attempt to eat my lunch in the five or ten minutes I have left after pumping. It's just not fun! Some days I just sit there and think, "I could quit nursing him and then I could actually rest on my break and not inhale my food" etc. In the end, I remember that I had said I'd nurse him as long as he showed interest and I plan to stick to that - as hard as it may be sometimes.

Nursing and pumping is going very well. We got to the point where our freezer looked like this:

So we went out and got ourselves a small chest freezer.

We now store all milk in there along with a few other items. Since the above photo was taken the freezer has been filled a bit more... We are still trying to work out a good system for rotating milk and what additional items we would like to store in there. For now we are just thankful to have the extra freezer space!

Joe has been doing pretty well switching from breast to bottle!

(first bottle, December 6, 2011)

I still nurse him when I am home. Very rarely will he get a bottle when I am around because in order to keep this up we need to nurse! Sometimes I would love for him to just have a bottle - it is much quicker and it would allow me to get more done most days!

I will stick to what I told the doctor from the start, "I will do it as long as he wants to." It's not really about what I want. Breastfeeding him is better for him, better for me and better for the wallet! Three great reasons to keep going even when I don't want to!

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About Me

Jason, Amelia, baby Joe and I live in northern WI. I work full-time in a Target store and Jason weaves wire-cloth in a local factory. We spend our "home time" chasing around an active toddler, picking up toys, washing dishes, playing with blocks or puzzles and caring for an infant! It's pretty tiring but it is also a lot of fun...most of the time ;)

Miss Amelia

Amelia Michelle was born February 25, 2009 at 12:53 p.m. She was 10 lb. 2 oz. and was 21 inches long. She is a busy little girl who never seems to tire - ever!

Baby Joey

Baby Joe joined our family on October 13, 2011 at 6:25 pm. He weighed 8 lbs 12 oz and was 22 inches long. He is a wonderful little guy who is a bit high maitenence...he thinks he needs to be held 24/7!